Make, change, and sign sis files: SmartSIS and SisBoom

SmartSIS

SmartSIS lets you pack, unpack, view, edit, and sign .sis installer files. It also turns .py files (Python scripts) into .sis files.

If you want to sign .sis files with SmartSIS you'll need a certificate.

The latest version has less bugs and a better file manager. You can get the english edition (translated by Nima79) at Mobile Castle.

SmartSIS requires Python and additional Python modules. Install Python and SmartSIS on your phone's built-in memory (the "C" drive).

• SmartSIS v2.2.7 (english version) at Mobile Castle


SisBoom

SisBoom can pack and unpack .sis files, and extract individual files from .sis installers. Some bugs were fixed in the latest update, and you can change the default installation drive of .sis installers too.

SisBoom requires Python and additional Python modules. Install Python and SisBoom on your phone's built-in memory (the "C" drive).

SisBoom speaks english, russian, and chinese. To change the language to english, select the last option from the menu, and then choose the second option.

• SisBoom 3.0.1 at Mobile Castle
• atrant.org (creator of SisBoom, russian site)


If you want to edit .sis files on your computer instead of on your phone, use SISContents.

Nokia vs. hackers 3-3: new firmware hackproof, certificate generator and repacked HelloOX won't let you in

Nokia vs. Hackers 3-3

Until a week or so ago all Nokia S60 3rd and 5th ed. phones could be hacked with the HelloOX method. But now there are a few firmware versions out that resist HelloOX.

The damage so far: N96 firmware version 30.0.33, E51 400.34.011, E75 110.48.125, and the hackability of other new phone/firmware combinations is not clear yet.

Here's a list of all phones and firmware versions that can be hacked.

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE:
The hackers have taken the lead again. HelloOX2 opens up phones and firmwares that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2


HelloOX 1.05, nothing new?

There's a program called HelloOX 1.05 floating around on many Symbian forums. Some say it works better than HelloOX 1.03, others say it's exactly the same file with a different name. The maker of HelloOX 1.01, 1.02, and 1.03 apparently has nothing to do with this repacked version, so don't expect it to do things that HelloOX 1.03 cannot do. According to this discussion on the Symbian Freak forum (signup/login required) HelloOX 1.05 is a hoax just like HelloOX 1.04.

• "HelloOX 1.05" on Mobile Castle
• "HelloOX 1.05" on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• HelloOX 1.03
• HelloOX 1.03 for Nokia N96

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE:
HelloOX2 opens up phones and firmwares that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2


Drakkarious Certificate builder

If you can't hack your phone with HelloCarbide, you'll need HelloOX. Unfortunately you have to sign HelloOX with a developer certificate (DevCert) before you can install it on your phone, and these certificates are hard to get.

The Drakkarious Certificate builder is supposed to make a DevCert for you without having to post your phone's IMEI on the web. But most people who tried it reported that it didn't work, and some people even detected a trojan in the program, although this appears to be a false positive.

• Drakkarious Certificate builder on Mobile Castle
• Drakkarious Certificate builder discussion on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• places where you might get a DevCert updated with new sites that provide developer certificates

InstsvrOnOff toggles your Symbian installserver hack

You hack your phone because you don't need Nokia or SonyEricsson to take you by the hand and tell you what's good for you. And then you add the modified version of installserver.exe because you don't need Symbian Signed to force their judgement on you.

But do you want to have your copy of the modified installserver.exe active 24/7, or only when you need it?

Enter instsvrOnOff, a tool to turn off the hacked version of installserver when you don't need it, and toggle it back on when you want to install something. Run, click, ready: instsvrOnOff is a simple and efficient program that gets the job done and stops right there.

You'll need a hacked phone with Python installed, and in typical Python style it's a good idea to put Python and your Python programs directly on the phone memory and not on a memory card.

If you use the installserver patches for ROMPatcher you don't need instsvrOnOff, because then you can switch the installserver mod on and off from the ROMPatcher menu.

• instsvrOnOff for phones with the installserver.mod at Symbian Freak (for members only)
• instsvrOnOff for phones with the installserver.mod at Mobile Castle (for everybody)

• Python for Symbian
• how to hack your phone and set it free
• modified installserver.exe for Symbian S60 and UIQ

• installserver patches for ROMPatcher

Install unsigned programs on new phones with new firmware with the ROMPatcher installserver.exe patch

HelloOX by bugb is a simple way to hack Symbian on phones with firmware that resists the old HelloCarbide method. Unfortunately there is no hacked installserver.exe for new phones with new firmware, so unsigned programs still needed signing before you could install them on your phone.

Running a hacked copy of installserver.exe doesn't work on new phones with new firmware versions, because these phones refuse to run installserver from any location other than the Z:\ drive, which is read-only.

But the hackers at Symbian Freak found a workaround. ROMPatcher can patch installserver.exe in memory (RAM), so now you can install all programs on new phones with new firmware without having to sign them first.

These ROMPatcher patches allow installation of unsigned programs on phones hacked with the HelloOX method.

• installserver.exe patch collection

• the old installserver.exe hack for those who don't want to use ROMPatcher
• the modding section of the Symbian Freak forum (members only)
• the HelloOX hack
• list of phones and firmware versions that can be hacked
• index of all Symbian hacking methods

AUGUST 19, 2009 UPDATE
Improved version of HelloOX2 comes with ROMPatcher installserver.exe patch built in

Hackers vs. Nokia 3-2: Y-Drive/Modo method breaks the locks of Symbian Signed

UPDATE: There's a new version of this hack which is a lot easier to use, and which also works on Feature Pack 2 phones and the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

First there was the AppTRK hack to set your Symbian phone free. When Nokia plugged the hole, it didn't take long before the hackers striked back with the HelloCarbide method.

But when Nokia fixed the HelloCarbide method back in September 2008, the new Nokia firmware versions resisted hacking for a long time: four entire months.

But now there's a new way into the system folders of your phone. The new trick from Deltafox uses the ability to assign drive letters to folders with MapDrives, which makes Symbian believe that a folder with a modified copy of installserver.exe is a system drive. This allows you to install the file manager Modo, which is progammed in a peculiar way that allows it to write to system folders before your phone is hacked. When you finish all the steps, you'll end up with the SIS Installer Mod on drive C:\ of your phone, which enables you to install any .sis file, even if it's not signed by Symbian Signed. You'll also get write access to system folders like C:\sys\bin.

This method is new, experimental, and complicated, and even the tiniest mistake will make it fail. It may not work on your phone, but if you can get it to work you can install any program you like (including programs like rotateMe) without Symbian Signed getting in your way. You won't be able to turn Symbian capability checking off with this method yet, but you'll get read/write access to the Symbian system folders.

If you have not hacked a Symbian phone with the old AppTRK or ROMPatcher methods before, it may be better to wait until an easier method becomes available. If you want to try it anyway, go to symbianhack.site666.info and click on "The Y-drive/Modo method."

There's a video of the hacking process on YouTube. It comes with horrible music, so switch the sound off.

Confirmed to work on these phones and firmware versions:

Nokia N81-3 firmware version 21.0.008
Nokia N82 firmware version 30.0.019 and 31.0.016
Nokia N95 firmware version 31.0.017
Nokia N95 8GB firmware version 31.0.015
Nokia E51 firmware version 300.34.56
Nokia E66 firmware version 200.21.118
Nokia E71 firmware versions 110.07.127 and 200.21.188
Nokia E90 Communicator version 300.34.84
Nokia 5320 XpressMusic firmware version 3.26 (but not 4.13)
Nokia 6120 Classic firmware version 6.01

It may or may not work with other phones and firmware versions. More info in this discussion on the Symbian Freak forum (login/signup required).

UPDATE: There's a new version of this hack which is a lot easier to use, and which also works on Feature Pack 2 phones and the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

• get your own developer certificate
• the Y-Drive/Modo package at Mobile Castle
• index of all Symbian hacking methods
• discussion of the Y-Drive/Modo hacking method in the modding section of the Symbian Freak forum (login/signup required)

Signing .sis Symbian installer files: which programs to use and where to get a free developer certificate?

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Most Symbian phones refuse to install "unsigned" software. Programs need to be "signed" with a digital certificate before Symbian allows you to install them on your very own Nokia or other Symbian phone. If computer programs would have to get approved by something called Windows Signed there'd be public outrage, and Microsoft would be flooded with lawsuits. But for some reason Symbian (read: Nokia) gets away with it.

Commercial Symbian software usually comes pre-signed and ready to install on your phone without further ado. But getting software signed for distribution requires a Publisher ID, which costs hundreds of dollars. For obvious reasons most authors of non-commercial software are not going to buy expensive Publisher IDs to sign their freeware.

A year ago Open Signed Online was started to cater for the creators and users of non-commercial freeware, but so far it fails miserably. Open Signed Online is still in beta testing and it shows. The procedure is unnecessarily complicated, especially if english is not your native language. It requires each and every user of unsigned freeware to upload the files to be signed, hand over their IMEI number and email address, wait until Symbian Signed emails back to them, respond to that mail, wait for another mail with a download link, and then return to the Open Signed Online site to download a signed copy of the program. Open Signed Online won't work on large files (the current limit is 4 MB), is not available in any language other than english, and its web site is unsuitable for mobile phone web browsers.

And if you want to install another program, or the same program or another phone, you'll have to suffer the same ordeal again.

As a result, Symbian Signed protects the financial interests of a few commercial software companies at the expense of all the non-commercial programmers and the millions of people that use their freeware. As long as things don't improve, make sure to avoid Symbian Signed like the plague.

So what are the alternatives to Open Signed Online?

You can set your phone free with one of the Symbian hack applications and use the SIS Installer Mod to avoid the inconveniences op Symbian Signed. Unfortunately you can't hack new phones with new firmware, so you can't use the SIS Installer Mod on those phones.

Fortunately there are free programs to sign .sis files without taking the long and winding road of Open Signed Online.

Programs to sign Symbian .sis installer files on your computer:
• SISContents
• FreeSigner
• SignSIS

Programs to sign Symbian .sis installer files on your phone:
• FreeSigner
• MobileSigner

Of course you'll need a certificate to sign .sis files with these programs. And if you want the signed applications to have enough capabilities to be useful, you need to sign them with a Developer Certificate. Symbian Signed won't give you a DevCert, so you'll need to get one elsewhere. You used to have to struggle with chinese websites to get certificates, but recently they've become available on english sites too.

Not all certificates are equal. The certificates from OPDA can give your programs DiskAdmin capability. Certificates from other places may not give your programs all the capabilities they need.


Places where you can get your own free certificate (these certificates give your programs "17 capabilities," including DiskAdmin, which you need for the HelloOX method):

• OPDA forum
• OPDA certificates (english language version)
• iMobile
• guide to getting certificates from iMobile
• DevCert Generator, an english language frontend of cer.s603rd.cn (sometimes this site doesn't work, sometimes it hands out certificates without DiskAdmin capability, but sometimes it gives certificates with all required capabilities to sign and install HelloOX)
• Nokioteca (italian site)
• Nokioteca guide on Symbian Freak (login/signup required)
• SIGNSIS
• S60 Certificate Key, another english language frontend of cer.s603rd.cn (sometimes this site doesn't work, sometimes it hands out certificates without DiskAdmin capability, but sometimes it gives certificates with all required capabilities to sign and install HelloOX)
If s60certkey.com asks you to download a toolbar, click "cancel." After the page reloads, right-click the cer and key file links and select "save as..."from the menu. This way you'll get the cer and key files without the toolbar.

Publisher IDs get revoked, certificate makers go on- and offline, and sites that work today may no longer work tomorrow.

Keep in mind that your developer certificates are made for you for free by friendly volunteers, so please behave accordingly. If you get your developer certificate from a user forum, don't just go there to grab a certificate but try to contribute something to the forum as well.

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Edit and sign .sis files with SISContents

SISContents lets you unpack and edit .sis installers. You can check their signatures and certificates, installer scripts (what gets installed where), extract images and other contents, and change the name, vendor information, capabilities of executables, and much more.

And the latest version of SISContents can sign .sis files too.

• SISContents

Need a certificate to sign .sis files? Look here.


This post was stolen without referring to the source by the copycats of SymbianCentral.

Sign your Symbian programs with FreeSigner and free certificates

Symbian software that doesnt come from a handful of big corporations is often "unsigned," which means you'll have to let it sign by Symbian Signed Online (a tedious process), hack your phone so it can install unsigned programs (won't work with the latest firmware), or sign it yourself with a developer certificate.

There are a few applications out there to sign Symbian programs. The new kid on the block is FreeSigner, which is like SignSis with more features.

Of course you'll need a certificate to use FreeSigner. There's a chinese site that hands out certificates to everyone who can navigate their chinese forum, but now there are alternatives in english in german. Getting a certificate is getting easier and easier.

• FreeSigner from junnikokuki
• free developer certificates to sign .sis files

• hack Symbian and install programs without signing them

Mobile Castle and faq4mobiles are user forums, so don't just go there for a free certificate, but try to contribute something to those communities as well.

OYSOISC: Easy HelloCarbide/installserver combo to hack Symbian S60 3rd ed. Feature Pack 1 phones and avoid Symbian Signed

There are many ways to hack Symbian and set your phone free. OYSOISC is the newest kid on the block. It's a Python wrapper around HelloCarbide (to hack Symbian) and a modified installserver, which lets you install any Symbian program without having to deal with certificates or Symbian Signed.

Installing of CapsOnOff (to toggle platform security) or ROMPatcher (to toggle platform security and do many other things) is optional and can be done after OYSOISC has added the modified installserver to your phone.

OYSOISC has the same limitations as the original HelloCarbide hack: it doesn't work if your phone has the latest, hackproof firmware.

In addition, OYSOISC only works on Symbian S60 3rd ed. Feature Pack 1 phones: Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, 6110 Navigator, 6120 classic, 6121 classic, 6124 classic, 6290, E51, E90, N76, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, N95-3 NAM, and N95 8GB.

You need to have Python installed to make OYSOISC work.

• OYSOISC for Symbian S60 v3 Feature Pack 1 phones
• OYSOISC for Symbian S60 v3 Feature Pack 1 phones at Mobile Castle
• Python (required to run OYSOISC)
• Symbian hacking methods for Symbian S60 (all feature packs) and Symbian UIQ
• ROMPatcher (to toggle the Symbian locks, and much more)

SIS Installer Mod for more Nokias

If you've hacked your Nokia you can install unsigned programs by simply dropping a modified installer into your phone's system folder. The modified installer doesn't bother with certificates or signatures, but simply installs anything you throw at it without asking all kinds of annoying questions like the default installer does.

The list of phones that can use the modified .sis installer has grown a bit with the release of a SIS Installer Mod for the Nokia E50, E61, 3250, and 5500.

• Get it from swmail's site

• Discuss it on the symbian freak forum (requires login)

Hack Symbian: updated all-in-one pack with HelloCarbide, ROMPatcher and installserver

When Nokia made new firmware to kill the old AppTRK method to hack Symbian phones, the hackers responded with HelloCarbide. ROMPatcher is a program to toggle the Symbian locks on your phone on and off, and comes with a bunch of plugins to customise menus, silence the camera shutter sound, and more. Installserver lets you install unsigned programs on your phone so you don't have to deal with the slow, clumsy Symbian Signed bureaucracy.

These three apps are available in an all-in-one pack, and the pack is updated with a new version of HelloCarbide that supports more phone models, and a fresh edition of ROMPatcher with an autorun option for the plugins.

• Download links, step-by-step instructions and more info on how to set your Symbian phone free on symbianhack.site666.info

Hackers vs. Nokia 2-1: new HelloCarbide method to set your phone free works without computer-to-phone connection

The popular hacks that allowed you to set your phone free (Python script, ROMPatcher, BiNPDA) so you could install unsigned programs, use the OPDA certificate, kill the camera shutter sound, rename apps, change menus, etc. all shared the same weakness: you needed to install a program called AppTRK so you could connect your computer to your phone the non-Nokia way.

And then Nokia started spreading firmware updates that made installation of AppTRK impossible.

But the inventor of the original hacking method didn't give up. Now there's a new method called HelloCarbide available to make your phone do what you want. It's still in an experimental state with rough edges and the accompanying documentation needs to be improved, but if you're feeling adventurous and the three original hacking methods don't work for you, you can go to the symbian-freak forums, sign up for an account, and go test the new toy yourself.

Or just follow the step-by-step guides on symbianhack.site666.info.

Symbian hack: install unsigned .sis files on S60 and UIQ

Hacking your phone with the Python script method for Symbian UIQ (or any of the hacks for Symbian S60) gives you even more freedom than it used to.

There's the sound mod, the midlet (Java program) permissions changer, the media player for Sony Walkman phones patched to run on other Sony handsets, and ways to get rid of the camera shutter sound.

And a hacked phone allows you to install the OPDA certificate, which lets you sign any Symbian software without having to go through the tedious procedure of Symbian's Open Signed Online, which is online but far from open.

And now there are new updated versions of the .sis installer mod so you can install unsigned .sis fils on your phone without having to beg Symbian Signed for the keys. Works on Symbian UIQ (Sony Ericsson) and S60 (Nokia).

There's more to come. Check out the to do list and the mods already available on 101swmail010.googlepages.com/uiq3mods.

For detailed instructions on hacking Symbian and installing unsigned programs: symbianhack.site666.info.

Set your Sony Ericsson free: Symbian UIQ hack

We have the Python script, ROMPatcher, and the BiNPDA hack for Nokia phones that run Symbian S60v3, but what do we have for Symbin UIQ that runs on phones from Sony Ericsson?

Well, we have a page with the Python script method for Symbian UIQ. It also has a sound mod, a midlet (Java program) permissions changer, a .sis installer to install unsigned programs, and the media player for Sony Walkman phones patched to run on other handsets.

All available on 101swmail010.googlepages.com/uiq3mods.

Detailed instructions on symbianhack.site666.info.

Now even easier: Hack Symbian S60 to take control of your phone with the all-in-one package from BiNPDA

We had the rather complicated Python script and the somewhat easier ROMPatcher method, but now it's even easier to take control of your phone back from Nokia and Symbian Signed.

The people at BiNPDA have made an all-in-one package to give you full access to the system files and folders on your phone. If you combine it with the OPDA certificate and a signing program like MobileSigner you can sign and programs such as ActiveFile that are distributed unsigned.

To set your phone free you only need two programs: a .sis file for your phone to make it talk to a stand-alone Windows program. This Windows program then installs the BiNPDA Security Manager on your phone, and that's it: now you are in control. You can get both parts - the .sis and Windows installers - in a single download.

Once you've set your phone free, just launch the BiNPDA security manager on your phone, give yourself full permissions, and now you can do anything you like in those previously inaccessible system folders.

• Take control of your phone: instructions and downloads